Stop clockblocking: Muslim teen famous for his ‘bomb’ clock wants it back

Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Muslim boy from Texas who became famous after he was arrested for bringing a homemade digital clock to school, now says he wants his creation back. The timepiece has been in police custody ever since his Monday arrest.

The young engineer has been invited as a guest to myriad talk shows, to tour several high-profile Silicon Valley companies and even to the White House for a conversation with President Barack Obama. Despite all the hoopla surrounding him, Ahmed says he wants to get the thing back.

“The clock is still in the custody of the police. I want it back, with my humility," Ahmed said on ‘Good Morning America’.

Ahmed is a ninth-grader keen on mechanics, and he said he just wanted to impress his new teachers at MacArthur High School in Irving with a clock he made by himself. Instead, the 14-year-old was suspended from school for three days after his English teacher confused it with a bomb.

He was arrested, brought to the police station and then interrogated for an hour. He was also refused contact with his parents during that time.

It took the police two days to announce they wouldn’t charge the teen for creating a “hoax bomb” and close the case.

“I was scared at the moment but now I feel really happy that I’m getting all this support from all over the world and the support isn’t just for me but it’s for everyone who’s been through this,” Ahmed said on ‘Good Morning America'. “I wanted to have my teacher see that I want to be an engineer when I grow up, so I guess now I get millions of people watching me be an engineer.”

The incident has sparked a wave of mockery on social media, with thousands of people who sympathized with Ahmed using the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed. Tweeters posted photos of themselves holding clocks and asking if they should be arrested.